Fitness & Wellness

Early studies showed fat was the culprit for high cholesterol and plaque buildup in arteries, but the real villain in this case is sugar. Sugar is responsible for so many health conditions, not to mention lots of fillings and dental work. If you find your child gets unruly after eating sweets, it’s another good reason to get your kids off sugar and find ways to make eating healthy a treat.

Getting your child to eat healthy may not be easy, but it’s worth it.

Check the labels on the food you serve. Often sugar is one of the top ingredients. That doesn’t mean you’re out of danger. Manufacturers got wise to that type of shopping and instead of using one type of sugar, they use several types of sweeteners so all of them are further down on the list and you don’t know just how much sugar there is in the food. What’s the best way to fight this and make sure you control the sugar? Make the food yourself. Some people make a menu and shopping list one night, shop the next and cook the week’s meals, plus a few extra to freeze for later, on the weekend. That way, you don’t have to spend the time shopping or worrying whether sugar is hidden.

What your child drinks is just as important as what he or she eats.

Are you giving your child soft drinks? If so, stop!!! It’s nothing more than sugary flavored bubble water that’s high in calories. Fruit drinks are just as bad, since most only contain a little juice and lots of extra sugar. Even real fruit juice is high in sugar and can cause a spike in blood sugar, since the pulp/fiber in the whole fruit actually slows it. What’s the best option? Plain water is good, but if you want to make it fancy, make it fruit infused water with fruit slices in it. Kids love it.

Snacks without added sugar don’t have to be difficult to create.

Who doesn’t love a slice or two of apple with some chunky natural peanut butter. A bag of homemade trail mix is also good. Get some small snack size bags and put individual servings of mixed nuts in the bag for another healthy snack. Whether it’s young kids or teens, a bowl of fruit that’s already cut up is just an invitation for snacking. Slice up a watermelon or cantaloupe and set out a bowl so it’s ready for snacking.

• Joining your kids in giving up sugar is a great idea. Did you know that too much sugar speeds up the aging process? That can’t make any adult happy!
• Your children will be healthier when you reduce the amount of added sugar in their diet. Sugar negatively affects the immune system and lead to more illness and infections.
• Sugar negatively affects cognitive thinking. One study shows that when sugar was removed from children’s diets at one New York school, the academic ranking went up 15.7%.
• Don’t worry if your child eats some cake and ice cream at a birthday party occasionally, just don’t have it as a constant part of their diet. We have loads of recipes to help cut back on sugar.

For more information, contact us today at Evolution Lifestyle Fitness

If you’ve read reports that weight training for kids is dangerous, my response is yes and no. Let’s look at the instances that may have a potential to affect the health of a child. Some studies show that weight training before puberty might lead to injuries, affect growth, while not increasing muscle strength. That’s only true when done improperly. The right form and correct safety measures must be taken and the program should be monitored and carefully planned to be its safest and most beneficial.

There’s so many more benefits to adding weight training to a child’s exercise program.

The best way to start a child in weight training is to make sure that their goal isn’t just about lifting as heavy as they can, but use lighter weights and focus on repetitions. Many studies show that pressing iron can help kids as young as 7. It helps build strength and that can actually help reduce the potential of injury, while improving sports performance. The goal of weight lifting training before puberty is not to build muscle tissue but to build strength.

Kids need to learn to follow the rules and instructions before they start.

No matter what your age, lifting weights properly and avoiding injury involve learning the proper form. Kids need to expect to master the form before adding any weight. The number of repetitions are more important than the amount of weight lifted. Strength training should be part of a well balanced fitness program that includes flexibility and endurance training. It needs begin with a warm-up and followed by a cool down.

Strength training can provide a great deal of benefits for kids.

When strength training, which includes weight training, is done properly, it can boost strength and endurance. It strengthens bones, maintains healthier blood pressure and cholesterol levels and helps reduce the potential of weight problems. It helps kids in sports by protecting their joints and muscles from sports-related injuries. It also improves their performance in that sport or athletic outlet like dancing. It also helps the child learn the proper techniques for lifting. Consider that the next time you pull your back out from lifting wrong.

• Strength training can help kids as young as seven. It’s important to have proper supervision from trained personnel teaching it. It’s always important to note that the primary emphasis should be on form, rather than on the amount of weight lifted.
• Whether it’s an adult or a child taking strength training, doing it every day isn’t wise. Strength training sessions should be every other day or every third day if they’re strenuous.
• Strength training can boost a child’s self-esteem and improve his or her overall confidence.
• Evolution Lifestyle Fitness has trainers specifically trained to ensure that your child has the safest experience that maximizes the benefit to his or her overall health.

For more information, contact us today: evolutionlifestylefitness.com

There’s a surge in the percentage of children that are overweight, obese or extremely obese. It’s a phenomenon that’s world wide for both children and adults. It’s more prevalent in adults with half the adults being overweight, obese or extremely obese and one in every six child falling into those categories. While it is prevalent in America, it’s also high in Mexico, New Zealand and Hungry. Until recently, Japan and Korea were the countries with the lowest obesity rates, but as the Western food permeates the cultures, Obesity is rising in Japan due to a change to the Western diet. That tells you it’s primarily from the food eaten and a sedentary lifestyle. It’s easier to stop childhood obesity before it has a chance to start.

Start by focusing on eating habits.

It’s easy to understand why kids and adults gain weight. The American diet is horrible. Everywhere you look there’s an advertisement for sugary foods, burgers and fries. Fruit drinks are far removed from fruit juice and even juice isn’t as healthy as water and a piece of fruit. Even food that calls itself healthy, really isn’t. High fructose corn syrup may come from a natural source, but there’s nothing natural about it. The body doesn’t process it properly and it adds to the extra pounds in the population. Furthermore, it’s cheap, so manufacturers put it in everything. Eating healthy has become a lost art that’s hard to regain due to the changes in society.

Kids and adults are less active.

While I definitely wouldn’t want to go back to the days when children worked in the fields doing manual labor or we had no conveniences that made our work easier, America is just too sedentary. Our outlets aren’t physical, with many of them involving just the muscles of the fingers to type. Even work is far less active. This inactivity slows the metabolism and burns fewer calories daily.

The solution is easy to identify, but not nearly as easy to institute.

A healthier population needs to have a better diet and be more active. Both adult obesity and childhood obesity take their toll in type2 diabetes, increased risk of cardiovascular disease and increased risk of several types of cancer. It attacks the esteem of the obese person and creates social isolation. Switching to a diet of whole foods with limited processed foods and ensuring a program of daily activity or a protocol of fitness can reverse the problem. It’s not easy and it takes the efforts of the whole family.

You don’t have to have an obese child to understand how healthy eating and a program of fitness can help them grow up healthier and fitter with a longer life.

Eating healthy doesn’t have to become a huge fight. Making healthy switches to lower calories and increase nutrition can make the change barely noticeable. There’s a lot of healthy snacks your kids will love.

Too often children learn what they live. If you want your children to be more active, you should be more active, too. Plan fun family weekends of hiking, roller blading or bike riding. You’ll be making memories, having fun and improving everyone’s health.

If you’re not sure where to start, contact us at Evolution Lifestyle Fitness. We have programs to improve your fitness and ones to help you learn how to eat healthier. No matter what you or your child’s weight, there’s help for everyone to get fitter and healthier.

For more information, contact us today: evolutionlifestylefitness.com

I have parents in Raleigh, NC, that are concerned for the health of their children, given so many more sedentary alternatives, like online games, are available. I understand their concern, which is why yoga, kids and all fitness training for children is an important part of our services. Kids learn what they live and there’s no better time to help them develop healthy lifestyle habits. Healthy eating and an active lifestyle is important, not only for a healthy childhood, but for continuing health throughout their lives.

Kids need an outlet that’s healthy and calming.

All exercise helps alleviate the effects of stress and today, even children face the stresses of everyday living. Childhood is far different than it was years ago and there’s more competition for grades, more distractions, more negative communication and even more bullying, although it’s not done with fists but through words. Finding an outlet that’s healthy that can relieve that stress is important. Exercise, particularly yoga, is one way to do that. It helps calm the mind, while building self-esteem and an improved body image.

Yoga and other types of physical activity have other benefits.

Flexibility, strength, co-ordination and endurance are built through activity. Yoga is based on concentration and a calming sense. It helps children learn focus and develop and inner strength that extends to dealing with the outside world. Yoga isn’t just saying “Ommm” and sitting contemplating self. It’s not easy. While it is mostly noted for the flexibility, it takes an amazing amount of strength, yet doesn’t require damaging physical contact as some sports do.

Yoga is fun.

Stretching like a dog or roaring like a lion is fun for younger children. For older children, the challenge of holding a position or even attaining a position is a challenge that is intriguing and keeps kids focused. No matter what type of exercise is used, keeping it fun and still challenging is one of the most important roles we face as coaches. It helps lead children down the road of lifetime fitness.

• Yoga can be helpful to develop muscles and help avoid injuries in other sports. Some of our programs deal specifically with to correct imbalances and injuries to help prevent future injuries.
• Yoga can be a perfect prelude to preparing for a sport. It helps build muscle strength in all areas that are necessary to maintain safety and boost performance.
• Childhood obesity is rampant and growing. Yoga can help children be more aware of their body and the food they eat to nourish it. One study shows that yoga can encourage weight loss because it helps the participant be more body awareness.
• Our program not only focuses on exercise, it helps them learn to set and achieve goals and the basics of healthy eating. It holds them accountable and teaches the important lesson of the benefits of commitment.

While most parents focus on exercising and getting themselves into shape, getting fit should be a family experience. Even grandma and grandpa will enjoy eating healthy and working out when you make fitness fun. Too often people make getting fit more of a punishment for bad habits of the past. It shouldn’t be that way. Getting fit should be an adventure that leads down a road to looking and feeling great!

Start with healthy eating habits.

One of the things that really irritate me is to sit at a table in a restaurant with someone who is dieting. They make a big production of the things they can’t eat and then order a salad and a diet cola. They focus on the negative, instead of looking for healthier alternatives that are exceptionally good, including that salad. They often hide the flavor of the salad under a thick cover of dressing, too. Finally, even if they ordered a diet cola, that doesn’t mean it’s healthy or will make you look better. One study showed that people who drank diet colas gained inches in their waistline compared to those who drank no cola at all. Learn how to eat healthy and enjoy every meal. Make it a way of life.

Exercise should be enjoyable.

When was the last time you focused on how your body felt when you moved. Seriously, the next time your run or even walk, feel the freedom you have with each step. My grandmother used to tell me to appreciate each movement, because one day you might not be able to do it. That advice came after a debilitating stroke, so she knew what she was talking about. Exercise doesn’t always have to take place in a gym. It can be as simple as taking a walk around the neighborhood or riding a bike.

Your kids will love the memories you make when you exercise with them.

Of course, that can mean you’re actually doing a workout routine, but in most cases, it means just doing active things together. Bicycles for the whole family doesn’t have to cost a lot. You can often find them at second hand stores, garage sales and pawn shops at a low price. Add in the cost of safety gear and you have family entertainment for years to come that’s healthy and fun.

• Learn to savor healthy foods and make them an adventure in eating if you’re an adult. Make food fun or children. Consider food like spaghetti squash that will fascinate children and amaze adults.
• Make everything a game, from climbing stairs to carrying groceries or cleaning the house. Dance your way through housework with the kids or race up the stairs to see who gets to the top the fastest. It keeps the family fit while being fun.
• Don’t use video games or junk food as a reward. That puts it on too high of a pedestal and makes it more enticing. Find other rewards that fit the healthy lifestyle mode, like ten more minutes of play outside or letting them choose a menu for the next meal from several options.
• Look for opportunities to help your kids get and stay in shape. A special trip to an amusement park will require a lot of walking. Have them prepare for the trip by walking every night together.